GLENCORE scandal: Expedite investigation against Cameroonian suspects!.

According to the verdict of the US Department of Justice, “Between approximately 2007 and 2018, GLENCORE and its subsidiaries caused approximately $79.6 million in payments to be made to intermediary companies to secure improper advantages to obtain and retain business with state-owned and state-controlled entities in the West African countries of Nigeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, and Equatorial Guinea. GLENCORE concealed the bribe payments by entering into sham consulting agreements, paying inflated invoices, and using intermediary companies to make corrupt payments to foreign officials”. 

In the case of Cameroon, GLENCORE confessed that between 2007 and 2018, it gave senior officials of the SNH and SONARA, approximately seven billion CFA francs in kickbacks to promote the group's operations in the country.

When the whistle was blown, the former General Manager of SONARA, Claude Simo Njonou, did not comment; apparently because the deal was sealed before his appointment in 2019. 

His predecessor, Charles Metouck, incarcerated at the Kondengui Prison, said he “never signed any contract with GLENCORE,” when he was in office from 2007 and 2010. 

Even though he is jailed for destruction of documents and embezzlement of public funds, he added that “he was never found wanting...for acts of corruption".

In his own reaction, the Executive General Manager of SNH, Adolphe Moudiki, in a press release dated May 30, 2022, also defended his company, saying it was "neither remotely nor closely associated with such practices, strictly prohibited by its internal regulations".

Moudiki, 31 years as the Executive General Manager of SNH, said he was only informed of GLENCORE's confessions, "through the press" and urged the American and English authorities to obtain "the elements which would make it possible for them to establish the veracity of these allegations".

He added that he did not recognise the allegations and had contacted US and UK authorities to understand the basis of the claims.

However, Africa Confidential newsletter, published from London reported, that: "Cameroon’s President Paul Biya has just received a letter from Adolphe Moudiki. The latter asked the Head of State to demand the opening, by the Minister of Justice, Laurent Esso, of a judicial inquiry into the confessions of GLENCORE, before the American courts last year…”. 

Later, French language newspaper, Eco Matin, also reported on June 14, that: "…President Paul Biya has authourised a legal procedure to involve the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in the GLENCORE corruption case". 

It quoted a source at the Ministry of Finance but did not give details.

Reuters also quoted the Chairman of the National Anti-Corruption Commission, CONAC, Rev Dr Dieudonne Massi Gams, as saying it had set up a commission of inquiry since complaints made by civil society and local media. 

"We are working on it and will take our time in order to produce good results," Rev Dr Massi Gams had said.

Given President Biya's often pronouncements against what he calls "illicit wealth" and the international ramifications involved, it is not surprised if heads will soon begin to roll in Cameroon, especially also taking into note the campaign and actions by anti-corruption guru, Batonnier Akere Muna.

The United Kingdom, which reputation has been smeared, especially that it is also one of the operational hubs of GLENCORE, has dragged individuals involved in the corruption scandal to court.

Alex Beard, who ran GLENCORE’s Oil Division from 2007 until his retirement in 2019, will face charges alongside  former GLENCORE executives; Andrew Gibson, Paul Hopkirk, Ramon Labiaga and Martin Wakefield, after a long-running investigation into allegations of bribery at the company.

The SFO said the executives have been charged in connection with the awarding of oil contracts spanning Cameroon, Nigeria and Ivory Coast from 2007 to 2014. They are expected to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on September 10, 2024.

Since the company and its executives pleaded guilty in the US court and there was thus no opportunity for the prosecution to grill them as to who they bribed in Cameroon and other countries, legal experts note that the UK case will provide an opportunity to be specific to whom the payolas were paid to, at the SNH and SONARA. 

That should, however, facilitate Cameroon’s investigations and prosecution of those reported to have through corruption, sold the country's oil at giveaway prices and making millions for themselves when the country is in dire need of money to develop its inefficient infrastructure.

Diplomatic watchers say taking the UK confessed bribe givers to court might have prompted the Executive General Manager of SNH to issue a statement last Friday, explaining that the fresh “information, which has just been disclosed, is an important milestone in uncovering the facts of this scabrous affair”

He further disclosed that on November 6, 2023, SNH had lodged a complaint at the Special Criminal Court, SCC, “to determine the Cameroonian accomplices in the corruption”. 

The Executive General Manager of SNH added that with the date now known for suspects to stand trial in London, “SNH is optimistic that the outcome of the trial" will facilitate investigations in Cameroon.

The Guardian Post is delighted, thanks to Batonnier Akere Muna, who singlehandedly campaigned for the suspects in Cameroon to be prosecuted. 

The country lost billions in the transactions and given Cameroon's membership of the International Police, it does not need to wait for the UK to prosecute its suspects, who may likely plead guilty as their company did in the US without disclosing their Cameroonian co-criminals.

Given the diplomatic and International Police cooperation, which Cameroon has with the United Kingdom and United States, some of the bribe money could have been used for terrorism financing.

That is why at The Guardian Post, we stand firm that Yaounde should expedite proceedings against those in SONARA and SNH, without waiting for the trial in London. 

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue N0:3191 of Tuesday August 06, 2024